Concrete Angel
by Seddie4Ever
Summary: AU. Why is Ashley so depressed all of the time? Just my take on the part of her life that no one knows. R&R!


**Disclaimer: I don't own The Secret Life of the American Teenager!**

**A/N: This is a story idea that just came to me. Why is Ashley so depressed all the time? It's the truth about her life that no one knows.**

Warning: This story will be SAD! If you don't like depressing stories, then this is NOT the story for you!

_She walks to school with the lunch she packed  
Nobody knows what she's holding back  
Wearing the same dress she wore yesterday  
She hides the bruises with linen and lace  
_

Ashley was walking to school, struggling to hide the tears in her eyes. She was carrying the sack lunch that her dad was so kind enough to allow her to bring: Bread with a single slice of cheese, and a small container of water. Her dress is dirty. Her dad wouldn't allow her to wash it yesterday. Of course, even when she did wash them, they were never that clean. She had to wash them in the soapy water that was left in the sink after the dishes. She was left in the kitchen last night, bloody and bruised. Her dad came home drunk again. She really didn't know how she was going to cover these injuries. Someone would notice.

"Wait," she thought. "This is what I want to happen. I want people to be able to see what this man is doing to me. I want someone to rescue me." And she would have gone to school without covering up her extensive injuries, but her dad woke up early.

_George Juergens walked down the stairs, his wrinkled suit and five o'clock shadow easily noticeable. He was just about to go watch T.V. when he noticed Ashley getting ready to leave, her face bruised from the night before. He was outraged._

"_What did I tell you about covering up your 'accidents?'" he shouted, taking a shot of tequila. "If you don't put some makeup on, everyone will know about our fun games. We don't want that, now do we?" George asked, his hand going up in the air._

_Ashley flinched. "N-No, of course not." She stuttered "I love it here, and if I didn't pretend like we didn't play our games, I wouldn't be able to live here." She said, putting on some makeup to cover her black eyes. "Besides," she began, "I deserve everything I get. I'm a horrible child. I never listen to you or do a good enough job on anything I do. I don't deserve all that you've given me."_

"_Right you are." George said, grabbing a can of beer. "Now do the dishes before you leave, this kitchen's a mess!"_

Ashley left to school that day, thinking that school would be better. "Maybe someone will notice today," she thinks optimistically. She thinks that thought everyday when she takes the two and a half mile walk to school. It never happens, but she still prays. She prays that one day God would take her away from her father somehow.

_The teacher wonders but she doesn't ask  
It's hard to see the pain behind the mask  
Bearing the burden of a secret storm  
Sometimes she wishes she was never born_

Her first period teacher is the only one that actually cares about Ashley, but she never says anything to her. She doesn't know anything about abuse, or what to do about it. She doesn't even know how to approach Ashley about it, but she knew that sooner or later, she would have to do it, and that it would have to be the former, not the latter.

_Through the wind and the rain  
She stands hard as a stone  
In a world that she can't rise above  
But her dreams give her wings  
And she flies to a place where she's loved  
Concrete angel  
_

The only thing that keeps Ashley going is the fact that she can dream. In her dreams, she is far away from her dad. She's far away from everyone that ever hurt her. It's just her, herself, and she. There's not a pain in the world, and her life is perfect.

_  
Somebody cries in the middle of the night  
The neighbors hear, but they turn out the lights  
A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate  
When morning comes it'll be too late_

One day, after school, Ashley came home after one of the best days of her life. Her teacher had told her that her dad had been arrested! They had received an anonymous tip that someone was being tortured in the house that she lived in, and cops were on their way to arrest her dad. She walked into her kitchen and set her stuff on the counter. It was a perfect moment when she walked in and her dad wasn't there.

Then, out of nowhere, she feels a sharp pain in her gut. She whirls around, trying to catch her breath. The wind was knocked out of her, and she had turned around to see who it was that had caused her the pain she thought was over.

It was her dad.

"D-Dad? What are you doing here?" Ashley asked, gasping for breath.

"You'd be surprised how easy it is to hide in this house." George said, smacking Ashley with every other word. "So, they think that I'm hurting you, do they? Well, let's see what happens when I really DO hurt you!" He said, punching Ashley in the nose, breaking it. There's blood everywhere, gushing out of her nose.

_Why?_ She thought. _What did I ever do to you? Why did I become the source of your problems? Why doesn't anyone hear my screams? Doesn't _anyone_ care?_

She blacked out, this time forever.

Before she died, she silently thanked God.

_Thank you for taking me away._

**A/N: That's it. It's not the best story, I know, but I just felt like I should write it. PLEASE review!**


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